By Daniel Sheridan
The odor-of-smoke call can sometimes prove to be one of the most frustrating calls that firefighters respond to. When we pull up to the front of the building and there is fire showing out one of the windows, it is actually a relief: you know where the fire is, and you know it is vented. Many times we respond to an odor of smoke in a multiple dwelling that has anywhere from three to 20 floors. Normally, we will receive a few calls from various floors in the building. When we arrive at the building, we generally will be able to tell what we are looking for by the type of odor we are getting in the lobby. Many times when we pull up, we get a distinct odor of burning food, usually between the hours of 1700- 2100. When we get the odor of food burning, it is usually just a matter of tracking down the apartment. Many times, the occupant will leave the apartment and forget that she left the stove on. We then usually will either have to force the door or try to get in through a window. Sometimes the people are home and are afraid to own up to their error. It aggravates us because we have to spend that much more time trying to track it down.
We should never be satisfied until we find the exact source of the smoke. If we pull up to a multiple dwelling and it is not food on the stove, we need to identify the type of odor. Everything that burns has its own distinct odor. If it is an oil burner misfire, the smoke will be black and have a distinctive petroleum odor. Some of the other usual odors are burning papers, which would indicate some sort of rubbish fire in the building. Electrical equipment burning also has a unique odor. In buildings that have elevators, many times that electrical smell is coming from the elevator machinery room, where there is a problem with a belt or some other issue with the motor.
Here’s one trick you can use if the building has an elevator. When the elevator is in the lobby, shine your flashlight up into the shaft; you may be able to tell what floor the smoke is coming from. Also, if the elevator comes down from the upper floors, usually the smoke from whatever is burning will be trapped inside the elevator. Many times in a fire resistive multiple dwelling, the elevator comes down to the lobby after it is placed in fireman service. As soon as the doors open, you can tell immediately that there is a working fire on the upper floors. Sometimes, you can determine more about the type of fire based on the odor of the smoke–for example, if the elevator arrives at the lobby and there is a distinctive odor of a mattress burning, there is a good chance it will be a bedroom fire.
If the building has an incinerator (very rare) or a compactor unit, there may be some sort of blockage in the shaft, or the compactor unit may be burning. When you arrive at the lobby, find the chute, which is usually inside a closet; open the chute carefully (if it is hot, wear full protective gear and stand to the side); and see if is smoke inside (photo 1). If there is smoke in the shaft and it is drawing upward, there is probably no blockage. If you open the chute and the smoke is coming out of the opening, there may be a blockage above you. Then operate as per your department’s standard operating guidelines for compactor fires.
SMELLS LIKE TROUBLE
The most frustrating of all the calls that we receive for “odor of smoke” is when someone does something in a multiple dwelling that they probably shouldn’t have done. Some of these activities include the following:
- Curing meats in the basement.
- Having a charcoal barbecue in the apartment.
- Trying to smoke vermin and roaches out of the walls of the apartment.
- Burning incense in every room of the apartment.
On a recent day tour, an occupant of an apartment on the fourth floor of a five-story building thought that having a cookout inside the apartment would be a good idea. We received a few calls for a reported fire in the building. The units arrived on the scene and set up for a working fire because there was a strong odor of smoke in the building. I received reports from the ladder company that they did indeed have a smoke condition in the building, mostly in the A line of apartments on the A side of the building. The second ladder company assisted in the search while the engine company stretched a line into the building, awaiting further orders. One of the occupants fleeing the building told me that he saw a good amount of smoke on the fourth floor. The firefighters worked for a good amount of time and were coming up with nothing.
We checked every floor. Doors were forced. The next step was to open walls. After a while on scene, the odor began to dissipate and became fainter. After a half an hour, we gave up and took up the line. I told the occupants that we couldn’t find anything and that if they smelled anything to call us immediately. As we were taking up, one of the firefighters noticed one of the occupants placing a small, smoking barbecue grill out on the fire escape. I found this out after we were back in quarters. I was extremely aggravated to hear this bit of news. This occupant lied to our faces–all he needed to do was to own up; it would have saved us a lot of aggravation and anxiety. I guess he thought that he would have gotten a fine, but the reality is he probably would have received a verbal warning. Odors of smoke that involve any type of wood smell get a very thorough investigation. I once spent a half hour in an apartment tracking down a very unusual odor; it turned out that a child had thrown a small plastic toy into an overhead light fixture.
In winters past, I have been to many odors of smoke that we never were able to quite figure out. Over the many years of steam running through buildings’ pipes, the adjoining wood joists get slowly broken down because of pyrolysis. The wood’s ignition temperature is slowly broken down over time until one day, when the heat comes on, it is enough to cause the wood to ignite. Because the wood is enclosed in walls and floors, there is not enough oxygen to support combustion and it just burns itself out until the next time. Eventually, it may find enough air and start a hidden fire in the walls. This is what may have happened recently at a call for an odor of smoke in a store.
On a recent day tour ,we received a report of an odor of smoke in an occupied clothing store (photos 2, 3). I was out in the street in front of the building. The ladder company was investigating. They informed me that they had an odor of smoke and that they weren’t quite sure of the source. Many times, in a commercial establishment, our first thoughts are that some sort of ballast burned out or that there was some other electrical problem. The storefront was only 20 feet wide and maybe 40 feet deep. I thought that it should be no problem tracking down the source of the odor. I wasn’t hearing from the ladder company for what seemed like a long time, so I asked the second ladder to start checking the surrounding stores. I called to the first ladder again and asked how they were doing; they responded that they were still looking. I decided to enter myself and see what was happening.
When I got to the basement, I couldn’t believe what I saw. The basement was the main selling area of the store,; it was about 100 feet ×100 feet. Now I understood why I hadn’t heard from them. I received a report from the second ladder that someone had thrown a cigarette down a shaft, but it was remote from where we were, and it didn’t have a rubbish smell. I suggested that we turn the lights off to see if the smoke would show up in our flashlight streams. We were better able to see the smoke condition but still were no closer to the solution. Another problem is that when you are in the middle of the smoke for a while, you become immune to it. We stayed another 20 minutes and finally had to give up. We checked everything, opening ceiling tiles and HVAC ducts, but came up with nothing. As we were leaving, I noticed a steam pipe in a storeroom. The guys checked it out; it was very hot, but there was no charring of wood. We never got to the source and never heard back from them for rest of the day or night tour.
On the day tour just before I wrote this article, we responded to two “odor-of-smoke” calls. The first one was in a 45-story luxury high-rise. The smoke was reported in the electrical room. We spent a good amount of time there, checking out the huge electrical room. We suspected that there was a problem with one of the transformers. We used the thermal imaging camera but found nothing unusual. The local utility was notified, and responded. We never found the source, but I was satisfied that the electric company was on scene. The only concern was carbon monoxide levels, which were only 4 parts per million..
Later that day, toward the end of the shift, we received another “odor-of-smoke” call in a big retail store. The store had three levels. The companies searched every floor, again checking ballasts, electrical equipment, and the ducts. The odor this time was not as clearly defined. After a bit of time, we received word that someone had dropped a cigarette down an outside grating. We had a small rubbish fire in the shaft. The smoke was drawn in through the HVAC system.
This type of call can be the most frustrating, anxiety-filled type of call for the battalion chief. As the saying goes, “Where there is smoke, there is fire.” No one wants to be the chief who takes up from a box assignment only to come back an hour later to find a structure fire. These are the types of calls on which we need to be thorough and try to think of every possible cause for the smoke. Usually after a time-consuming investigation, you will get the answer–a lot of times, it is just dumb luck. If you have any doubts or reservations, don’t give up until you are satisfied that you have done all you can do.
Photo found on Wikimedia Commons courtesy of DirectNIC.com.
Daniel P. Sheridan is a 25-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York and a covering battalion chief assigned to Division 6 in the South Bronx. He is a national instructor II and a member of the FDNY IMT. He is a consultant for www.mutual-aid.org.